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I've tried Voicetext.jp and Google's text to voice service to read this

四中の

It reads something like

Yon-chū no

But Google suggested this romanization, which left me doubtful

Shi-chū no

So, I have been redirected to a similar question discussing why there is different pronunciations of the numbers 4, 7 and 9 (maybe there's more).

From the given answers, I can't decide how to read things like

足立区立第四中学校

Because none of the examples addressed there were close enough to school names, rankings and such...

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Jonas
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    What is the context in which you found this text? If it is an abbreviated name of a school (from 第四中学校 or something, maybe?), it's probably yon-chuu no. That said, I should note that relying on automated services to romanize Japanese is unlikely to be reliable. – senshin Oct 29 '15 at 23:02
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    I don't think this is really about rōmaji. It seems like the question would be the same if you talked about the readings よん versus し in kana. –  Oct 29 '15 at 23:07
  • I suspect even the question here might help clear up your confusion: http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/328 – jkerian Oct 30 '15 at 00:28

1 Answers1

4

In your case, it is fairly easy: do not think that 四 is an isolated entity. It comes with 第, with 第四｛だいよん｝, meaning The fourth.

In this case, whenever you encounter a counter, go with the 訓｛くん｝読｛よ｝み. This was highlighted in the answer you linked:

Kunyomi is typically used in cases where you point out you have X of some item.

For example, you would say 四枚｛よんまい｝ to count flat things, 四本｛よんほん｝ to count cylindrical things, 四番目｛よんばんめ｝ which is another way of saying fourth, 四匹｛よんひき｝ to count animals and so on...

Urukann
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